A favourite Australian ...

wljmrbill

Member
interesting video.. I like animals of all types and like to watch their activity. Love the Discovery and Animal Planet channels.
 

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
These animals are just so beyond belief when seen in the flesh. They are quite small, about the size of a house cat (perhaps a little smaller).
 

jhnbrbr

New member
Yes, I always imagined them larger, about the size of a seal. I suppose it's because I've only seen still images of them before. If you had one as a pet you could train it to open tins of paint for you.
 

Soubasse

New member
Damn YT link is not playing for me, but I gather from the comments that it's about the Platypus. They are lovely little things but I've heard that you have to be careful holding them as some of them (might be the male if memory serves) have venomous claws. Something one doesn't always expect from an innocuous and otherwise cute little mammal.

Speaking of Australian wildlife, I have to confess I'm very partial to the company of the Blue-Tongued lizard. We've had several inhabiting our back yard over many years now and it's always nice to see them around (keeps the snails and mice aways too). They're odd looking things because their limbs are quite disproportionate to the rest of their body. I only mention it because we had to rescue one from our stupid dog the other day.

Blue%20Tongue%20Lizard.jpg

(this is a Blue-Tongue by the way, not our stupid dog :) )
 

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
Oh the blue tongued lizard - they're so adorable!! For those that don't know them, thye'are about 8 inches lone and quite hefty.
 

Soubasse

New member
Even heftier if it's a pregnant female. I have a photo somewhere of me holding one that I picked up near our back fence (she was in danger of being trodden on by a cow!). They are rather handsome little devils and they're not hard to catch if you don't mind the hissing - it's all bluff anyway.
 

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
yes - the hissing is all bluff but they do have a rather strong bite (won't draw blood) which is moderately painful AND they're not disposed of letting go immediately, for sheer pervisty I guess.
 

Soubasse

New member
Indeed - farmers will tell you stories of sometimes having to chop off the head of a blue-tongue in order for them to let go!

And ye gods, our idiotic mutt is at it again. I mentioned he had a go at one recently which he should not have done if he had any brains, because the first time he tried it on with a blue-tongue a few months ago, it latched onto his paw and managed to tear one of his claws out. By the time we extracated the lizard, there was the dogs claw in the its mouth. Dog was in a fair bit of shock (lot of bleeding too), but interestingly enough his claw has since grown back.

Well just a couple of hours ago he was at it again. One of the biggest blue-tongues we've seen for a while (possibly another pregnant female). My wife had to physically drag him inside before he came to anymore grief. Obviously our hound is too much twittish Beagle and not enough Cavalier.
 
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